The article, ''Mohala i ka wai: Cultural Advantage as a Framework for Indigenous Culture-Based Education and Student Outcomes,'' by Shawn Malia Kana'iaupuni, Brandon Ledward, and Nolan Malone, represents an important story and study in Indigenous educational self-determination. Their positioning and findings of culture as an advantage in regard to…

Hawai'i is a small place on a large planet; Kanaka Maoli, the Indigenous people of the islands, today comprise just 20% of the total population within the state, and less than 1% of the total U.S. population across the nation (U.S. Census Bureau, n.d.). Yet Hawai'i, promoted for centuries as an exotic tourist destination, and Hawaiian culture as…

In this essay, the author discusses her experiences in creating her film about Hawai'i Creole. She shares how she chronicles the essence of local life in the film through Pidgin. She also discusses how she came to understand the power of Pidgin, its centrality in people's lives, and its place in defining the uniqueness of Hawai'i. As the author…

During the late twentieth century, Kanaka Maoli have struggled to push back against these representations, offering a rewriting of Hawaiian history, quite literally. Infused by Hawaiian nationalism and a growing library of works that investigate the naturalization of American colonialism in Hawai'i, innovative Kanaka Maoli representations in the…

Every multicultural society has a language of power--the language spoken by members of the dominant group or groups--as well as languages that lack power because they are spoken by members of the subordinate group or groups. The ascension of one language over another has long been a source of controversy in Hawai'i, as it has in many parts of the…

For a number of years, Kent Sakoda has been teaching at the University of Hawai'i at Manoa in the Department of Second Language Studies. His course, "Pidgin and Creole English in Hawai'i," is popular among students on campus. He has also taught at Hawai'i Pacific University. Because of his expertise on the grammar of Pidgin (Hawai'i…

A Native Hawaiian critiques the notion that philosophy is acultural, focusing on the spiritual and cultural context of knowledge, cultural influences on perception, relationships as the basis of epistemology, practical knowledge, the power of words in an oral culture, the mind-body question, and the politics of education. (SV)

In 1956, Andrew Sharp published "Ancient Voyagers in the Pacific," in which he hypothesized that the migration throughout much of Polynesia, including Hawaii, was accidental. Archaeologists and historians widely accepted Sharp's theory as a simple solution to how Polynesians crossed 2,200 miles of open ocean on the world's largest sea.…

This article is a poignant commentary on the connection of the Native Hawaiian people with the past, the present, and the future. In this article, the author positions himself within the histories of his people. He talks about putting faces to his ancestors by linking them with the people of his day, and he talks about reconstructing the…

The purpose of this paper is to outline a set of principles to guide research on the early education of Hawaiian children. The paper discusses what R. Tharp and R. Gallimore term a "climax program," or combination of program elements which produces a desired social outcome. How research efforts can be structured to contribute to the…

Offers a Native Hawaiian educator's perspective on the well- intentioned but misguided efforts of many non-Native teachers, administrators, and professors. Uses the Kamehameha Early Education Program as an example of an authoritarian discourse being taught to Native children. (SR)

The Ethnic Studies Oral History Project of the University of Hawaii recorded and preserved interviews with 250 older Hawaiian working people and selected the 12 most representative life narratives to make up this book. According to an introduction, the 12 were chosen for their portrayal of everyday life and work, their articulation of attitudes…

Empiricism is culturally defined in that culture shapes sensory knowledge. Hawaiians recognize senses beyond the five that Western culture recognizes. Hawaiians are not unempirical; they draw conclusions of their own from their empirical experiences. It is time to validate other ways of knowing, long suppressed in the U.S. educational system. (TD)

Although there are only about 2,000 active speakers of the Hawaiian language, there exists a coherent system of nonverbal behavior which can be identified as Hawaiian and which contrasts sharply with middle class white American behavior. Teachers of Hawaiian children should be aware of this in order to avoid potential misunderstandings in the…

Discusses the culturally-based social problems experienced by Hawaiians. Culturally appropriate prescriptions for empowerment are derived from an analysis of historical and current social problems. Describes current movements to reestablish native sovereignty and an indigenous community-based economy. (JPS)